Sunday was the Times Up memorial ride to Far Rockaway for Andre Anderson. In case you aren't familiar with Andre's story, he was hit and killed by a reckless driver this past Septemeber while riding home. Andre was 14 and an avid BMX rider. The driver that hit him did so while speeding and attempting to swerve around him. He was hit so hard that his BMX was cut in two. None of this makes Andre's case all that unique (unfortunately). What does make it different was the driver's reaction. Immediately after killing Andre, the driver exited his vehicle and ran back to another SUV that his friend was driving, so they could get their stories/excuses straight. He did not check on Andre's condition, or attempt to help him. And it only gets worse. Jose Vicens, the driver, was not charged with anything, not given a breathalizer, and there has not, nor appears to be any chance of an investigation into Andre's death. Despite witnesses who have come forward claiming that the accident was Vicens' fault, the NYPD has refused to take any other statements and have chosen not to look into the matter. Vicens' statement also makes the lack of an investigation worse. He admits to speeding as well as seeing Andre and swerving not once, but twice. He does not claim to have applied the brakes at any point or honked his horn. And perhaps the most disturbing is that when Vicens finally did hit Andre, he was trying to pass him in the right side. The Queens District Attorney Richard Brown was informed of this incident, and has also elected not to investigate. Remember when I said it gets worse? Jose Vicens has gone so far as to show a blatant lack of remorse for killing Andre, which he demonstrated in the great coloseum of our time, Myspace:User name: Spiked Cuervo
Hobby: sending bikers flying in the air
"Thanks for the shots and beer, you RULE!! Sucks about the paper and ***, but ya know none of that **** wont matter in 5 years
Ahh that was fun, smoking hooka in the parking lot of Dunkin Donuts, people clapping for us, peeing on cop cars... priceless.... Oh, and I win"
"The paper" in question was the only article that ran about Andre's death.The other creepy thing learned through Vicens' Myspace account is that a lot of his friends are police officers. A more in-depth examination of this incident can be found over at Cars Suck.
So this past Sunday, Times Up organized a ride to Far Rockaway to pay respects at Andre's memorial and visit with his mother on Mother's Day. It was cold and cloudy, almost silent along the shore, the only noise seemed to be the rolling thunder of bikes on the wooden boardwalk. Andre's mother and family came out to talk about him at a small memorial on the grassy median of Shore Front Parkway. She then invited everyone back to her house and served up a huge meal of soul food for everyone. Before leaving, she also invited all the riders and their families back to her house for a BBQ in August.
Name of Product: Schwinn Deluxe Bicycle Child Carriers
Units: About 14,000
Manufacturer: PTI Sports Inc., of Coral Gables, Fla.
Hazard: If the seat is not fully seated on the rack, the plastic guide tabs on the carrier can break. If these tabs break, it could cause the seat to fall off. This poses a risk of serious injury to a child seated in the carrier.
Incidents/Injuries: PTI Sports has received five reports of the bicycle child carriers falling, including three reports of minor injuries, such as bumps and scratches.
Description: The carrier is a seat for a child that is attached to the back of an adult bicycle. The carrier is gray plastic with a blue rubber back and seat pad, a gray head rest, and black straps. Model number SW571T is printed on the carrier's packaging and in the owner's manual. "PTI" is printed on a yellow warning sticker on the back of the carrier seat.
Sold at: Department stores, discount department stores, and military exchanges nationwide from September 2004 through November 2005 for about $50.
Manufactured In: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the bicycle child carriers. Do not return the carrier to store. Contact PTI Sports for a free safety bracket and revised installation instructions.
Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact PTI Sports at (800) 515-0074 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, e-mail the firm at customerservice@ptisports.com, or visit Schwinn's website at www.schwinnbike.com.
Although an engineer designing from scratch could hardly concoct a better device to unclog modern roads - cheap, nonpolluting, small and silent - the bicycle after nearly a century of mass ownership is still more apt to raise quizzical eyebrows than budget allotments.Read more.
And, most ominously for a warming globe, China and India seem to be using their new wealth to pave the way for the automobile rather than to preserve long traditions of mass cycling. So it may seem odd that many cycling advocates are getting optimistic of late.
They acknowledge that progress may be slow at the national level, but many see a wave of action swelling up from below - at the city level, where exasperated mayors are connecting the dots.
is being made into a movie. It should be interesting to see what happens with the movie. The script doctors will need to change the story significally, I think, to expand the appeal to a wider audience. The children going to Battle School, for example, will probably be teens or even young adults. The book is violent enough, but I imagine the movie will add sex. The action against the "buggers" may be a little closer, and of course the time will need to be compressed significantly since the final battle scenes take place over the span of several months.
. Card introduces his theology in Xenocide 
but I totally missed it. It finally struck like a thunderbolt while I read Children of the Mind
. If you're wondering, Card's whole concept of auia, "philotic connections," and creating living beings out of thin air are rooted in LDS theology. I've always thought these aspects of Mormon theology would make for good science fiction; I admit that knowing it takes some of the fun out of reading Card's novels. Oh well.
